Microsoft’s ambition to become the “Netflix of video games” faces a huge test this week, as Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be released on Friday.
A year ago, the US software giant bought the game’s publisher, Activision-Blizzard, for $69 billion in the sector’s most prominent takeover.
Activision’s prized asset was the “Call of Duty” franchise, one of the world’s best-selling games, and Friday’s release will be the first in the series to be available from day one on Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
The game will also be available to PlayStation users and on PC. Mat Piscatella from analyst firm Circana told AFP it was “the biggest push” anyone had made to bolster a subscription platform.
Video game companies once made money by selling hard copies of their games to players who played on consoles.
But the industry now profits from in-game sales and subscriptions on a model like Netflix or Disney+.
“How consumers react may result in a dramatic industry shift to — or away – from the subscription model,” said Piscatella of the “Call of Duty” release.
AFP
